. . . muttered the ogre

Way the heck back in November one Jim Henley, of whose blog I have just now become aware, made a very interesting point about foreign intervention:

And out of the preceding ingredients the final, general case against “humanitarian intervention” arises like a word appearing in a bowl of alphabet soup — it’s a cruelty to the people you profess to want to help. . . . As soon as the Hutu government inaugurated its slaughter of the Tutsis, Belgium pulled the troops out, so they wouldn’t get hurt. Belgian lives were more important to the Belgian government and people than Tutsi lives. The preference was forgiveable. The pretense that things were otherwise, which was what the deployment of “peacekeepers” constituted, was not. How many Tutsis died because of the false security Belgium’s pantomime of concern engendered? Absent Belgium’s “humanitarian” intervention, the Tutsi would have known ahead of time what was true anyway: they were on their own and needed to look to their own defense.

Awfully decent of Mr Henley to provide a ‘best of’ menu.